The odds for the 16-year-old are slim, but her best chance now is a match from someone of the same ethnicity.

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Over the summer, 16-year-old Roshlind Mance was diagnosed with aplastic anemia and paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH). Those are two rare blood diseases, and the only cure is a live-saving stem-cell match. The search for a match hasn’t been successful and now Roshlind’s family is making a desperate appeal to the Filipino community. Finding a match from the same ethnicity is her best chance at a cure.

The problem? Canadian Blood Services told CTV News that only 0.9 per cent of the adult stem cell donor database is Filipino.

Roshlind’s family have been rallying the community through various events in Edmonton and Winnipeg to try and find a match, but so far they haven’t had any luck.

The process to determine a match involves a cheek swab and, in total, takes about 10 minutes. Candidates have to be healthy and between 17 and 35 years old. If a match is found, there are two ways to donate: peripheral donation (a series of intravenous injections) and bone marrow donation (involves surgery to retrieve cells from the pelvis).